


Aid to Escape

by CoachPatchesOHoulihan



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Divergence, I'm Sorry, Not sure what other tags to add, One Shot, Related to Escapism but not really, i'm really bad at tagging things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 09:19:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17322245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoachPatchesOHoulihan/pseuds/CoachPatchesOHoulihan
Summary: Steven and Connie are stuck in a tower when Yellow Pearl drops on by, but why is she here?Or: I had a theory that Yellow Diamond was going to secretly be on Steven's side the entire time and I refuse to let it die, dammit.





	Aid to Escape

**Author's Note:**

> I'm 99.7% sure that this is not at all how Escapism is going to go, just a fun little What If, which is to say, "What if Sugar decided to make Yellow Diamond an ally for Steven, and also decided to throw all pre-established themes and story out the window and was actually a really shitty writer?"

They had been sitting in silence for more than hour by now. What more was there to talk about? They had gone through all the topics they could possibly discuss. Accusations. Reconciliation. Discussion. Action. Discussion. Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

The last voice to be heard was Connie, once again trying to reassure him that everything was going to be okay, even as they sat in this near pitch black prison, stuck because they accidentally fused in the middle of a ball. Steven had woken up a few hours ago from his self induced psychic coma, trying to find the help of anyone, _anyone_ , with his mind hopping powers.

He tried to reach the Crystal Gems, but they weren’t around to talk, he tried random Homeworld gems, they brushed him off as if they were simply hearing voices. He tried Pebbles, but they couldn’t understand his situation, he wanted to find someone like Lars, but there was apparently a range to the mind powers. He went to Yellow and Blue Diamond, and they rebuffed him in similar ways.

He made a list and checked it twice, he didn’t care how ridiculous it seemed, Amethyst, Greg, Blue Pearl, Jasper, the governor of Delmarva, anyone.

Everyone he could think of either wasn’t around, didn’t want to help, or couldn’t help.

All they could do at this point is think. And wait. They sat next to each other, Steven resting his head on Connie’s shoulder, and her head on his. It wasn’t comfortable, especially being this way for an hour, but neither could bare to be the one to break the touch. For all they knew, there might not be much time left for them to touch, to do anything.

A pair of footsteps was heard coming from the hallway, causing both of the kids to jerk up. They would’ve noticed them in any situation, but the dead silence certainly aided that. If the footsteps were noticeable, then the sound of the door unlocking was deafening. If it were a few hours earlier, Steve and Connie might have bothered to get up, perhaps set up some sort of ambush, at the very least they’d stand up to greet their visitor properly. Now, they didn’t bother to sit up more than they already have.

When the door opened up, Steven had the feeling of hope come and go faster than he’d ever experienced. He saw the shape of the figure before anything, a slim, semi-tall woman standing in front of him. Unfortunately for him, the color of her body was the second aspect he noticed, putting all thoughts of a miracle escape aside.

“Greetings, Pink Diamond and human,” Yellow Pearl spoke. She said it without saluting and with much less enthusiasm than usual. Steven couldn’t help but wonder if that was because of his current situation, being stuck in prison, or hers, visiting said prison for some reason. He glanced towards Connie who responded in kind, a slight nod which communicated the only message needed.

_This might be it._

“You’ll have to forgive the conditions of the tower,” the Pearl prattled on, “we haven’t needed to use it since your last tantrum.”

“...Right,” was all Steven could muster to spit out. Yellow Pearl looked as if she wanted to hear more, but he wasn’t really sure what she was expecting, an apology?

“...Right,” she replied in kind. “Anyhow, your punishment, and the punishment of your Earth friends is currently be deliberated by the three greatest minds on Homeworld, and as each has come up with their own solution, we would like your input.”

“He gets a vote?” Connie interrupted.

“Of course! He’s still a Diamond, after all.” Steven couldn’t help but hear a tinge of bitterness in her voice, as if she didn’t like that the troublemaker in front of her still gets to have input.

She took out some sort of technological panel from her that Steven had seen, recently as the home of the other Pearl’s court sketchings, and looked over the notes written on it. “Okay, so motion one: Anonymous Diamond A’s solution is to grant amnesty to both Pink Diamond as well as her current servant.” Yellow Pearl gestured to Connie while she said the second part, drawing a silent ire from the audience of two. “The other offending parties would be sent to trial, found guilty, and sentenced to be shattered within three cycles.”

“So Connie and I would get to be fine, but the rest of the Crystal Gems get shattered?”

“Correct, Pink Diamo-”

“Pass,” Steven snapped. Yellow Pearl shifted her eyes to Connie, and she shared the same expression as the Diamond by her side.

“Very well.” The Pearl made a few taps on her tablet, before a small glow showed up on the screen. “Motion fails to pass, two to two.”

Connie and Steven exchanged puzzled glances, not sure as to why another Diamond would be opposed to shattering the Crystal Gems. Before Steven could even ask how the others voted, Yellow Pearl had moved on. “Motion two: Anonymous Diamond B’s solution is to sentence all offending parties in a similar manner: exile.” She paused, for what Steven assumed was dramatic effect, before continuing on, “The group known as the Crystal Gems, as well as Pink Diamond and her servant-”

“Again with the ‘servant,’” Connie muttered.

“-shall be sentence to 1000 years of exile to a failed colony in the Crystal Planetary System.”

“Is there even air on this planet?” Connie asked, with Yellow Pearl seeming to be done. “Or food? Or anything that Steven and I would need?”

She looked to Steven to add on, but he appeared to be lost in thought. He couldn’t help but think that he knows the Crystal System somehow. Was it from an old Pink memory? No, that’s not it. Did he learn about this from someone like Lapis or Aquamarine, maybe Peri-

Suddenly, it clicked. “Motion passes!” He yells out.

A look of disapproval appeared on Yellow Pearl’s face, “You can’t pass the motion, only vote on it.”

He was quick to respond. “Then I vote yes! Let’s go with this.”

“Steven,” Connie whispered, “Are you sure about this?”

“Pretty sure,” he whispered back, “ _Failed colony_ in the _Crystal_ system, I think that’s Earth.”

“How sure is pretty sure?”

“Like...75 percent?”

“Steven!”

“Sorry! It sounds like a much better option than everyone being shattered, so even if it’s not-”

“The motion fails to pass,” Yellow Pearl interrupted.

“What?” Steven called out.

“Two to two. Better luck next time. Though to be transparent, every one of the Diamonds knew how you were going to vote anyways.”

“If you knew how he was going to vote,” Connie snipped, “Why did you even bother coming here?”

“Yes...” The Pearl responded, “Why _did_ I come here?” The mood seemed to be changing in the room, any sense of formality that Yellow Pearl still applied seemed to be falling to the wayside. “It’s almost as if I didn’t come here to hear you vote in a very expected manner. It’s almost as if I’m here for another reason.”

Whether or not they thought she was telling the truth, the apprehension that the kids had met her with ever since she walked in started to fall away. Steven was the first to test these new waters, “ _Are_ you here for another reason?”

“I didn’t say that,” the gem feigned ignorance, “but if I was here for another reason, I would like to close that door so we could have a more private conversation. And in a completely unrelated and coincidental circumstance, that’s what I’m going to do.” They realized that the Pearl expected them to jump her and escape, which they couldn’t blame her for thinking. They nodded towards her, giving her their silent promise. The Pearl about-faced and made her way to the door, sticking her hand out into the hall, fumbling for the correct keypad entry. It reminded Steven of people trying to close garage doors despite being on the wrong side. It was the closest he had to a positive thought since Stevonnie was thrown into the chamber.

Eventually, Yellow Pearl was able to do whatever she needed to do to close the door, and did so. She took a few moments to collect herself, before facing back to the prisoners of Homeworld. When she did, she sported a look that Steven had recognized, but not on any of the more important Homeworld gems. It was unmistakable. It was fear.

“Alright, listen up.” She spoke in a much more hushed tone than she usually did, bordering on whispering. “Neither of these options would have passed.”

Steven was starting to get a little frustrated, and was not afraid of letting her know. “Yeah, we figured that!”

Yellow Pearl shushed him, “Even if you had the votes, it wouldn’t have passed, because that is not what White Diamond wanted to happen.”

Steven was surprised to hear this, but Connie didn’t miss a beat, “Aren’t there four Diamonds? Why wouldn’t Yellow and Blue have their votes counted?”

“How have you not figured this out yet?” Yellow was starting to lose her patience, raising her voice ever so slightly. “Every gem listens to their superior, up to the Diamonds. And that includes the Diamonds.” She scanned over both of them while she continued, “Blue and Yellow answer to White, not that either of them likes that. And White has decided your punishment. The vote, all votes, are just to make it seem like their were other options available.”

Steven was beginning to lose patience, “And what exactly is the punishment?”

A solemn look fell over the face of Yellow Pearl, avoiding eye contact, she spoke even quieter than before, “They’re going to...become _part_ of her.” She returned her gaze to the Diamond in front of her, “And she wants you to watch.”

The kids put on as good of poker faces as they could possibly muster. They were horrified of what they heard, they didn’t need an explanation as to what the punishment entailed, they both guessed that the Crystal Gems were scheduled to turn into...whatever the White Pearl was. Whether that was to become mental slaves or if it was a mind melding process, they didn’t much care. Steven only had one question that he wanted to ask, “How can I save them?”

Yellow Pearl drew and released a breath, more for calming purposes than any physical need, and delivered her next few words with an intense clarity, “You can’t help them if they’re turned. No one ever has been able to break free of White’s grasp. The only way you can help your friends is if you break. Them. Out.”

Yellow Pearl stopped talking, ending her sentence as if extending an invitation for them to ask a question that she desperately wanted to answer.

Connie was the one to ask, “Can you help us with that?”

For the first time since arriving at the tower, a smile crept onto Yellow Pearl’s face, mirrored by the prisoners, “No, I can’t.” The smile went away from the kids face, replaced by a look that screamed “Are you fucking kidding?” Yellow Pearl noticed, and responded, “I can’t help, because I would get in trouble just the same as you and your friends. However...” and as she spoke, she accessed her gem and pulled another tablet from her gem, this one that was marked with a criss-crossings. “I can ‘accidentally’ drop this map, which just so happens to be marked with the location of the prison that the Crystal Gems are being held in as well as the location of the Tourmaline Crossguard, which you will desperately need.”

As she spoke, she threw the most recent tablet to a corner of the room, which the kids chased. Steven couldn’t help but notice that her cadence and tone was closer to what he’s used to hearing from her, and for some reason that he didn’t quite know, he was glad to hear that. Steven and Connie picked up the chart and began to study it, thankful that the map didn’t appear to be a vague alien concept, but rather something that was similar to conventional Earth charts. They took note of two markings, one that was close to White Diamond’s ship, what they assumed to be the prison, and the other marking in a location that they’ve never seen before.

“And what exactly _is_ the ‘Tourmaline Crossguard?’” Connie asked, not receiving an answer. They both looked up to see that Yellow Pearl was no longer in the room. If she hadn’t left the map, there would’ve been no proof that she was ever around. Connie looked around in confusion, wondering if she was simply hiding or if she truly left, while Steven’s eyes could only fixate on one object in the room. The door. And how it wasn’t there. He tapped Connie’s shoulder, drawing her attention to their avenue of escape. The hardest challenge they had ever faced waited for them once they made their way outside. Steven and Connie were ready for the challenge. He spoke confidently, grabbing hold of Connie’s hand as they both started walking out.

“Let’s go find out.”

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to hear your feedback, if you have any. And be honest, don't worry about hurting my feelings. I need to get better and brutal honesty is how it happens. If it feel rushed, not fleshed out, please tell me, if it feels too wordy and tell-not-showy, please tell me. If I goofed up some grammar or spelling or syntax, please tell me. If you have good things to say, tell me, I'm about it.


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